SC - yeast - LONG & OOP

[Decker, Terry D.]

While on a trip to New Orleans, I had the opportunity to stop at a bookstore
in Shreveport and come up with a couple of treasures.  One of these is
Tullie's Receipts, a book of recipes assembled from various 19th century
sources by the Kitchen Guild of the Tullie Smith House Restoration, Atlanta
Historical Society.  The recipes are from cookbooks published in the period,
Southern manuscript cookbooks written in the period, the odd recipe glossed
into a printed cookbook and venerable family recipes of undeterminable age.

I found the entries for yeast interesting, and am transcribing a couple of
them here.

Dry Yeast

Put four ounces of hops to six quarts of water; boil it away to three
quarts.  Strain, boiling hot (as directed for the Soft yeast) upon three
pints of flour, a large spoonful of ginger, and another of salt.  When it is
cool, add a pint of sweet yeast.  When it is foaming light, knead in sifted
Indian meal enough to make it very stiff.  Mould it into loaves, and cut in
thin slices, and lay it upon clean boards.  Set it where there is a free
circulation of air, in the sun.  After one side has dried so as to be a
little crisped, turn the slices over; and when both sides are dry, break
them up into small pieces.  It thus dries sooner than if not broken.  Set it
in the sun two or three days in succession.  Stir it often with your hand,
so that all parts will be equally exposed to the air.  When perfectly dry,
put it into a coarse bag and hang it in a dry and cool place.  The greatest
inconvenience in making this yeast is the danger of cloudy or wet weather.
If the day after it is made should not be fair, it will do to set the jar in
a cool place, and wait a day or two before putting in the Indian meal.  But
the best yeast is made when the weather continues clear and dry; and if a
little windy, so much the better.

To use it, take, for five loaves of bread, one handful; soak it in a very
little water until soft, which will be in a few minutes; stir it into the
sponge prepared for the bread.  This yeast makes less delicate bread than
the soft kind, but it is very convenient.

Mrs. M.H. Cornelius, The Young Housekeeper's Friend (1859) 


Baker's Yeast

To a gallon of soft water put two quarts of wheat bran, one quart of ground
malt, (which may be obtained from a brewery,) and two handfuls of hops.
Boil them together for one half an hour.  Then strain through a sieve, and
let it stand till it is cold; after which put to it two large tea-cups of
molasses, and half a pint of strong yeast.  Pour it into a stone jug and let
it stand uncorked till next morning.  Then pour off the thin liquid from the
top, and cork the jug tightly.  When you are going to use the yeast, if it
has been made two or three days, stir in a little pearl-ash dissolved in
warm water, allowing a lump the size of a hickory-nut to a pint of yeast.
This will correct any tendency to sourness, and make the yeast more brisk.

Miss Leslie, Directions for Cookery (1847)

Strong yeast is barm from the brew pot.  Pearl-ash is cream of tartar. 
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================